County Observer and Monmouthshire Central Advertiser Abergavenny and Raglan Herald Usk and Pontypool Messenger and Chepstow Argus

I TOWN TOPICS, (From Our London Correspondent.) I Our King and Queen's visit to Ireland, coming 110 comparatively soon as it has done after the earlier one of their Majesties to what it was for long the fashion to colloquially can" the dis- tressful country," is anticipated ir. Court circles to furnish throughout a striking testi- mony to the feeling of personal regard which is entertained by the Irish people as a whole for the King and Queen Alexandra. This view, it is understood, prevails at Dublin Castle as markedly as at Buckingham Palace, and O'Connells' old idea of "the golden link of the Crown uniting the two countries severed only by the sea, is thus being held to be realised m a fashion of which "the Liberator" never dreamed. There is a further point about the event which is being made the matter of pleased comment ha various quarters, and that is the proof which it affords of the continued deter- mination of their Majesties to fulfil to the highest point the duties of sovereignty, for it is no light matter for them to undertake this fresh journey so soon after their visit to Denmark. The King simply revels in work of various kinds; and when the time comes for the inner history to be written of the very interesting period through which we are passing, it will be found that even in the midst of what have appeared to be excursions of pleasure, his Majesty has been strikingly contributing to the progress of State affairs. In regard to the point of excursions o-f pleasure, one phase of Queen Alexandra's visit to her father's home has indicated how very keenly her Majesty is interested in everything which contributes to the prevention of disease or the healingof the sick. One day, accompanied by the Crown Prince and Princess, and Prince Waldemar of Denmark, her Majesty visited the State Serum Institution, near Copenhagen:; and in this displayed a concern for the suffer- ing which has been strikingly exemplified in our own capital by her visits to the London Hospital in the Whitechapel-road. It is a practical as well as a philanthropic interest which her Majesty displays in such iciatters, and practical interest, indeed, is one of the it notes" of modern Royalty. The German Emperor notably shows it; and a significant indication that his eldest son, the Crown Prince, is being trained in the same ideas is given by the fact that a few days since he paid a visit to a studio in which are some pictures that are to be sent to the St. Louis Exhibition, and that among the most noticeable of these was a paint- ing representing the blast furnaces at the Bessemer Works, and others in which the artist has depicted the forging of a cannon and the rolling of an armour plate at Krupp's factory. One of the hardy annuals of the private bill side of Parliamentary life is the discussion of some scheme or another for placing an efficient service of steamboats "between bridges" on the Thames, but that river has so long justified the old poetic title of the silent highway" that no very sanguine hope can be entertained of what is really a stigma being speedily re- moved. This year the question is once more being thrashed out before a committee of the House of Commons and, seeing the wonderful consensus of opinion in favour of the establish- ment of a regular and reasonably rapid steam- boat service, it seems surprising that so much delay has taken place in setting one up. Previous failures in this direction have been sought to be accounted for in all kinds of ways, from the state of the tides to the charges of the Thames Conservancy Board but the main point is that the experiments have not suc- ceeded. There are tens of thousands of Londoners and many more dwellers in the country occasionally visiting town, who would gladly avail themselves of such a means of transit if it were effectively provided and they must continue to live in hope that some day it may be accomplished. It is very interesting to learn that the Con- valescent Home for Naval and Military Officers, which occupies a large portion of Osborno House, the Isle of Wight residence of the late Queen Victoria, is proving a success. Within ten days of its very recent opening with sixteen patients, officers in both services invalided from different parts of the world, applications for admission come in to the Navy and Army Boards so continuously as to promise that every room will be occupied by the end of the pre- sent month. That those officers who have al- ready entered should be charmed with the ar- rangements is, of itself, excellent hearing; and it needs very little imagination to think that the good Queen Victoria, who has gone, would have been deeply satisfied to know that her favourite English home would for all time be put to a use so congenial to her warm- hearted love for her sailors and soldiers. It was one of the happiest thoughts of the many which our present monarch has manifested and the boon conferred upon the officers of the navy and army is unmistakable. Extensions of the club system in London are constantly being effected, and one of the latest is proving not to be the least successful. That is the establishment of a club specially designed for the larger number of women employed in the City as secretaries, shorthand writers, and clerks; and its efforts so far have been eminently satisfactory. Not only is there provision made for a 4comfortable meal for hundreds of City employes for whom there used to be none such, but a convenient centre is fur- nished for rest, recreation, and social inter- course for the many women engaged in clerical work. Nor is this all, for the institution has & library of some six hundred volumes, it pos- sesses a piano "for musical Monday evenings, and it has attached to it a most useful employ- ment bureau. In the West-end, of course, there are various ladies' clubs, which appeal to dif- ferent sections of society, and some of which are specially intended for women workers in the fields of journalism and art; and, there- fore, the further progress of this City effort will be regarded with the more interest and good- will. The completion by the Baroness Burdett- Coutts this week of her ninetieth year, the venerable lady having been born on April 21, 1814, has naturally been the occasion for much congratulation among her innumerable friends and admirers. It has properly been recalled how, in the midst of her varied philanthropic activities of the present, she forms a very strik- ing link with the past. The ordinary man can scarcely realise that we have still among us the daughter of one who was once sent to the Tower for a political offence, and who was accompanied on the way thither by thousands of his admiring countrymen. It is also a very striking fact that this same lady. is named in an early poem of Thackeray, before that great writer was in any way known as a novelist, as having been present at the coronation of the late Queen Victoria, an event which occurred as long ago as the June of 1838. But, of course, it is not simply as an impressive link with the past, striking as is that connection, that the Baroness Burdett- Coutts has endeared herself to the vast community of the English-speaking woria. Her benevolence, while discriminating, has been most marked throughout her very long career; and when the signal honour was paid to her thirty years ago of being created a peeress in her own right-one of the most distinctive and unusual honours which the Sovereign can confer upon a subject—there was not one among us who did not recognise how thoroughly well it had been deserved. Partly because the Prime Minister is so well, known a performer at the game, golf has el 3ate* • years been specially identified with Parliament In the public mind. The House of Commons, however, if it is to retain a shred of its reputa- tion in this particular, will have to do decidedly better than it did in the sixth annual match with the Ranelagh Club, which it played a few days since. The Ranelagh team not merely proved successful for the fourth consecutive year, but it gained about the easiest victory in the history of the contest by totalling nine and a half points to nothing; and it may have been because the cares of State were for the moment weighing too heavily upon them that the Premier and the Colonial Secretary were among the most marked of the losers. This experience is scarcely an encour- aging one for the revival of the House of Commons cricket team for the coming season, or for the renewal, which has been more than once suggested, of the rifle match between representatives of the Houses of Lords and Commons, which was at one time a striking social feature at Wimbledon and might be made again so at Bisley. But better things may surely be expected in the future. R.

NEWS NOTES. The death of Admiral Makaroff in theainking of his flagship at Port Arthur must be reckoned as something in the nature of catastrophe to the Russian Navy, in which he was doubtless the most distinguished personage. There died with the illustrious commander several hundreds of his comrades, many of them being officers of much promise. Russia lost also another of her most prominent sons in this same disaster, for with the ill-fated battleship M. Verestchagin, the greatest painter of war of our day, who was with the fleet in search of new subjects, went down. No wonder that the latest blow to the Czar's prestige in the Far East has created consternation in St. Petersburg. Admiral Togo makes his reports to the Mikado in a leisurely and apparently unemo- tional way, or., at any rate, this is their characterisation when published. There is nothing of elation or deviation from cool calcu- lation in the announcements given out to the Press in Tokio; neither is. there anything suggestive of suppression or minimisation of losses to Japan when a check is received. Russia gives her official version of any happening as soon as possible, censoring thereafter if not re- pressing any other account, while the Japanese err on the side of reticence and ingenuousness. The real truth of the camp aign will take a lot of sifting when the gag is off. Meanwhile a lot of wild and unfounded rumours are constantly coming into circulation, by reason of the absence of reliable information. We know the strategic reasons for withholding the truth, whicli might be used to the disadvantage of those permitting its disclosure; but authorita- tive statements might very well be officially made, without avoidable delay, for the re-assurance of the public mind, and for the prevention of false impressions. It seems ridiculous on the part of the Lama- ridden Tibetans to try and stop the British Mission to that mysterious land by means of old matchlocks and leathern cannon; and it is clear that .Colonel Younghusband must ,now complete his task of showing the hill and country folk of mid-Asia that it is to their interest to accept the friendship and counsel of Britain. The Tibetans have been wrought upon by deception from inte- rested neighbours, and brought to a wrongful belief that we mean them ill. This misunderstanding must now be removed, once for all; and the. only regretful thing about the whole business is that dissipation of ignorant prejudice is costing the deaths of misguided natives. Let us hope that ere long both the priestly rulers in Lhasa and the Chinese Ambans who advise them, sometimes under a good deal of Muscovite influence, will be in- duced to see that our true intent in forcing them to give us a hearing is all for their good. The late veteran Dr. Samuel Smiles published quite a little library of books inciting his contem- poraries to laudable action by the presentment of exemplary instances. Of course his Self- Help was the most important of the invalu- able series from his pen, and he himself has stated how it came to be printed. About the year 1844 he was invited to deliver an address before the members of some evening classes, formed by a group of young men at Leeds—Dr. Smiles was then a journalist in that town-for the purposes of mutual improvement, a disused cholera hospital being rented by them as a meeting-place. The invitation took the form of a request made through a deputation that he would talk to them a bit," and he was so struck by the admirable self-helping sprit" they had displayed that he consented. He addressed them on several occasions, "citing examples of what other men had done as illus- trations of what each might, in a greater or less degree, do for himself," and pointing out the necessity for diligent self-culture, self- discipline, and self-control. He recognised the fact that there was nothing new or original in this counsel, but it stimulated the youths to fresh energy, and he found afterwards that some of them even attributed their success in life to the inspiration they had derived from the illustrations he had put before them. Interested in the subject of Self- Help, he kept adding to the memoranda he had used in his addresses, and thus, in course of time, he had sufficient materials for the volume which made its appearance under that title in 1859, further additions being made in 1866. In all more than a quarter of a mil- lion copies of Self-Help have been printed in this country; it has had an extensive appre- ciation in America and the Colonies, and it has been translated into something like a score of foreign languages. The old man, eloquent, in his quiet way., has exercised an incalculably beneficent influence upon our time, and he will speak through his books sagely to generations yet to come. The report from the Labour Department of the Board of Trade on the state of trade in the Colonies is hardly as satisfactoryas is desirable. As to South Africa, it is pointed out that in Cape Colony aided passages at t.3 a head are given to male and female domestic servants, but otherwise there is no demand for more labour. No one is allowed to land unless possessed oft20 on arrival and has secured definite employment. In Natal there is no demand for more labour, and people are warned not to go there at the present time in search of work unless nomi- nated by friends in the Colony. As to the Transvaal, no one is allowed to enter without a permit. There is no demand whatever for mechanics or labourers of any kind, but there is a slight opening for female servants. The cost of living, it should be remembered, is two or three times as high in the Transvaal as it is in England. Permits are required to enter the Orange River Colony, where the trade out- look is bad, there being no demand for labour, and many being out of work. Let us hope that things will be better after a while in our new Colonies, respecting which we were bidden to hope go much.

Remember the Black Beetles, and be sure to tell Cook to well sprinkle the floor near the fire-place last thing at right with KEATINO'S POWDER, the unrivalled Eiiler of Flfeas; Beetles, Moths; also Nits in Children's Heads. Harm- less to animals. Sold only in. Tins, 3d., 6d., &n<| Is. Filled Tin Bellows ready for use, 9d. '0

LI HUNG CHANG'S FORECAST. The great dead Chinese statesman, Li Hung Chang, can never be accused of a lack of pat- riotism, whatever else may be laid to his charge. Judging by a posthumous private letter just ex- ploited by a German paper, he was perfectly will. ing to sacrifice either of the present combatants in the East to save the interests of the Flowery Land. His letter, written shortly before his death, shows that he saw the inevitable drift to an early collision between Russia and Japan, and that he had no choice in the outcome of the struggle. He wrote "The Chinese Court officials often say we should not give up Manchuria to Russia, but such speeches only people can make who do not know present conditions or cannot read the future. If we now leave Manchuria to the Rus- sians, it does not matter in the least, because Japan will certainly annex Korea, and as soon as the two nations meet at the boundary great differences will arise. "In case of war, if Japan is defeated we shall help ihe Russians to crush Japan. Then out of gratitude Russia will return to us Manchuria and keep Korea. Should Russia be defeated by Japan, however, we will simply drive the Rus- sians out of Manchuria on the plea of helping Japan, and in this way, without much trouble, receive back the province. "At present to get back Manchuria is difficult. England places much weight on Manchuria, but we need not heed this, because England cannot accomplish anything there by force. Germany is neutral, France looks at the situation from the distance, and America is silent. With all these countries we, therefore, have nothing to do. Our viceroys in South China, who speak otherwise, have no understanding of affairs. "I therefore ask you to take the greatest trouble that the Empress widow does not hear the views of the viceroys. I cannot live much longer, and am near death. I hope that after nay death you will follow my principles."

liI I (| r\ jKtk mmmmmmm 6» • OH THE B fcjt DEXIIICS I J B\ \N'0RTH THE TROUBLE OF GETTING I Wl *HtAyciGA*for2?(7forl/.) I NffSl lf I ffi' ill ^lib All Tobacconists ke £ b mmi. 1 i Ijl Iff J V% ft(l 7 orctfn«q«V>| then*. I |! III I ,111 If^curs wgnt„ TRYMMfStm F j ter" 0 ? W I or | m t !Sop, bona on lkR- -r ri-TIoun't., ot pe had-e 4-7"¡.

RETURN OF WARNER'S TEAM, A large crowd assembled at Victoria Station in I London on Sunday night to welcome the return of I Mr. Warner's M.C.C. cricket team from Australia. I As the time drew near for the arrival of the Dover I boat train, the crowd grew to such dimensions that it defied the efforts of the station staff to cope with it. The services of a strong body of police were secured, and just as the first portion of the train steamed in a large number of people were got outside the barriers. But the presence of the train at the platform was the signal for another rush, and for a time the police were powerless. Women formed a large proportion of the crowd. The train arrived in two portions, of which the second brought the cricketers. As they were recognised loud cheers were raised, and sticks, hats, umbrellas, and handkerchiefs were waved in the air. No sooner had a few of the players alighted than they were taken posses- sion of by the crowd, and it was with diffi- culty that they could gain their cabs. Others I of the team, seeing the fate of their friends, refused to leave their carriages, the doors of which were guarded by porters, and police. Subsequently f the cricketers made their escape from the other ¡ side of the train, and when this became known to the crowd strenuous efforts were made to reach them. A rush was made through the train, them. A rush was made through the train, but most of the doors had been locked. I Many persons tried to slip across the buffers, but they were sent back by the police, and ¡ one or two athletic young men attempted to get over the carriages themselves. While the crowd I was exhausting itself in a vain endeavour to reach I the other platform the remaining members of the team succeeded in making their escape from the station. Several of the players were recognised by the crowd gathered outside, and received a loud cheer as they drove away.

DEATH OF DR. SMILES. I Dr. Smiles, the author of the well-known book "Self-Help" and numerous other popular works, died at his residence in Pembroke gardens, Kensington, on Saturday morning, in his 92nd year, having been born in December, 1812. He started business as a doctor, practising in I Haddingtonshire, and as long ago as 1838 I published a book on physical education. Later II on he became editor of the "Leeds Times," and during his occupation of that post wrote a I history of Ireland, lectured at mechanics' institutes, and supported the agitation for the repeal of the Corn Laws.. On resigning the position of editor lie became secretary of the Leeds and Thirsk Railway, and later on super- intendent of the North-Eastern Railway at New- castle, coming to London iu 1854 as secretary of the South-Eastern Railway. It was at this time that he published, at his own risk, his great work "Self-Help." He left the South-Eastern in 1868. In addition to a" History of the Huguenots," Dr. Smiles wrote many biographies, including those of George and Robert Stephenson, and Nasmyth; of Thomas Edward, the naturalist; George Moore, the City merchant; and Dick, the geologist: as well as books on the subjects of duty, thrift, &c.

CATARRH AND INFLUENZA. Catarrh is the result of a series of colds the symptoms are :—Nose stopped up, difficult breathing, loose cough, with continual hawking and expectorating. Verio's Lightning Cough Cure quickly cures this condition. Influenza. is epidemic and contagious, most prevalent in low-lying districts in spring months. During the severe'epidemic which raged in North An eiica-, in 1897, Veno's Lightning Cough Cure was the remedy chiefly used, and it reduced the death rate to such an extent that doctors never hesitated to prescribe it. It is peculiarly well adapted to the speedy cure of both Influenza and Catarrh. Ask for Veno's Lightning Cough Cure. Price 91-d., Is. ld., and 2s. 9d., at Chemists and Drug Stores every- where.

BURIED ALIVE. THREE DAYS IN AN IMPROMPTU TOMB. A tramp named Johnson, a native of Mansfield, has had a remarkable escape from being literally buried alive. Entering a house in course of erection in Lyme-road, Leicester, he crept under a partly laid floor and went to sleep. When he awoke the follow- ing morning the workmen had arrived and were busy with their hammers finishing putting down the flooring beneath which the man was lying. Fear- ing detection Johnson remained quiet and allowed himself to be fastened in as securely as if he were in his coffin. When night again arrived, and the carpenters had gone, Johnson endeavoured to get out of his narrow prison; then it was that the awful truth dawned on him. He was buried alive. Three days later the workmen engaged in the house heard faint and mysterious sounds proceed- ing from beneath the floor, Give me water give me water," moaned the voice, and the terrified workmen sent for a policeman. An aperture was made in the floor, and there slowly emerged a half- starved looking man about thirty years of age. It was Johnson, more dead than alive. He said he had passed through untold mental tortures. How long he had been boxed in he was at first unable to say, for in his awful plight an hour to him had seemed an eternity.

Excited Wife "Wake up, Henry! The house is on fire!" Sleepy Husband "Good gracious Now we'll have to move again "And what did you do when your doctor told I you you would have to quit wearing a corset and give up sweets?" "I se-Jlt for another doctor."

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PROBLEM OF THE INEBRIATES. For ten years Lady Henry Somerset, the founder of the Duxhurst Farm Colony, has made herself personally responsible for its support. It is now felt, however, that as the institution has proved itself a national need it should receive national sup- port. In order to relieve Lady Henry Somerset of this responsibility a representative committee has been formed, with Sir Colin Scott-Moncriefl as chairman and treasurer, to carry on the work on the same lines as hitherto. Approximately the annual expenditure is £6000, while from the work of the inmates and from other sources JE5000 is, received. The deficit of 91000 has, therefore, to be raised by subscriptions. With accommodation for 60 patients-maintained at a cost of El per head weekly-there are annually more than 500 applications for treatment.

Someoile has drawn attention to the fact that music exercises an influence on the growth of the hair in a most curious manner. Consistent play- ing for some years on metal instruments, the trombone in particular, will cause baldness; while the playing of the piano, violin, and violon- cello rather increases than otherwise the growth of the hair. Flute and clarionet players are not supposed to be influenced either way.

I TO BE GROWN AND SHOWN. Louisiana, mother-State of the Louisiana terri- tory, is preparing to grow rice and sugar cane at the World's Fair just as these vast industries are carried on on the plantation of the sunny South. There will be a field of growing cane, with negroes cutting and loading the cane into bars; a fine locomotive will haul the cars to the sugar-house, where an unloader and. cane feeder will deposit it upon the carrier of a first-class mill and shredder. After being shredded it will 97, pass through processes of mixing, crystallising, and granulating. Putting the sugar and sugar molasses in barrels will complete the sugar- making processes. The rice exhibit is to be equally complete. The entire process of putting in the crop is part of the display. A rice field will be shown in course of preparation by the breaking plough and harrow, and finally the mode drill putting the seed under ground. Then will be seen the field of growing rice, over which will be pumping plant, forcing water into the CIAIIAII and showing the method of irrigation. Fisruvlly the finished product will be harvested pifid threshed. In the rear of the field is the rice will, with electric bulbs, so arranged as to show the whole machinery in motion. b-

WM HOSPITALS LOOK BARE. There has lately been some discussion in the daily Press as to the bareness of hospital wards and the incompatibility between art and sanitary science. The "British Medical Journal" points out that there is a beauty, not seldom seen in the hospital ward, consisting of just proportions in length, breadth, and height, an air of space and brightness, and the repetition of simple-lines. It is a pity that attempts are so often made to break this symmetry by hanging up engravings, etc. These collect and harbour dust and Etticrobes, and it is just possible that in some hos- pitals too much attention is paid to the decora- tion of the wards to the disadvantage of the patients.

SUSPICIOUS APPEARANCE.—This story is told of Bishop Selwyn, who was a hard worker, and never spared himself. He was one day seizing an hour's much-needed sleep on the bench of a little roadside station in Derbyshire, en route for a con- firmation. A lady of some social distinction and her daughter were on their way to the same rite, the daughter as a confirmee. They went to the solitary porter, and said they were afraid to pass the drunken man on the platform. To this the porter replied, in tones of much solemnity, If you fW, my, lady, it's the Lord Bishop!"

"The Army Journal of the British Empire," is the grandiloquent title of the War Office jour- nalistic venture which it is hoped will encourage recruiting. But its aim is more grandiloquent; etill. The Army Order states it is to deal with subjects of a professional and scientific nature, to encourage the study of military science and history, to circulate information on military matters, and to promote, as far as possible, a knowledge of the principles of Imperial defence amongst all ranks and all arms of the military forces of the Crown.

AN EXECUTOR'S LIABILITY. Before Mr. Justice Channell, without a jury,, the ea-e of Tarrant v. Corbishley was heard on Saturday in the King's Bench Division. It was an- action brought by Mrs. liuby Helena Tarrant to recover from Mr. William Corbishley, the executor of the will of Mary Ann Firth,the sum of £ 58 lls.lldi. Mr. Lewis Thomas appeared for the plaintiff, and the defendant was represented by Mr. G. W. Bicketts. The facts showed that the plaintiff was entitled to the amount claimed as a grand niece of the testatrix, but when she applied for her money it was discovered that the solicitor in whose hands. the mortgages had been placed for realisation was a bankrupt, and that the moneys realised had all gone. Mr. Ricketts said the case was one in which one of two innocent parties must suffer for th& default of a third. As the securities were mort- gages, it was a proper matter for the employment of a solicitor to realise. Mr. Justice Channell said he must give judgment for the plaintiff. It was & little bard upon the defendant, but it would be a good h:u'der upon the plaintiff if she had to lose her money. There was no suggestion against the defendant, and it was one of those cases in which an executor had to pay money that had been placed in the hands of another person. Judgment was then given for the amount, with costs.

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